2118.000 Thesium L.

Description of the genus

Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, parasitic or hemiparasitic. Leaves sessile, alternate, scale-like or ± linear. Flowers bisexual, solitary or in cymes, each flower subtended by 1, often conspicuous, bract which is often adnate to the pedicel or peduncle and 2 bracteoles or (in T. atrum and T. fastigiatum) by an involucre of 4 or more bracts. Perianth (3-4-)5-lobed, often with conspicuous external glands on the perianth tube below the sinuses of the lobes. Stamens as many as lobes; anthers (in ours) attached to lobes by tufts of hairs. Ovary with 3 ovules. Stigma capitate. Fruit a nut, rarely fleshy, usually 10-ribbed, crowned with the persistent perianth.

Worldwide: 325 species in the Old World

Malawi: 7 taxa.

The larvae of the following species of insect eat species of this genus:
Eicochrysops messapus (Cupreous blue)
Thesium nigricans

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
dissitum N.E.Br.S
fastigiatum A.W. HillN,CDescription, Image
goetzeanum Engl.NDescription, Image
masukense Baker[End]N
nigricans RendleSDescription, Image
triflorum L.f.
whyteanum RendleSImage

Other sources of information about Thesium:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Thesium
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Thesium
Flora of Mozambique: Thesium
Flora of Zambia: Thesium
Flora of Zimbabwe: Thesium

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Thesium
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Thesium
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Thesium
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Thesium
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Thesium
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Thesium
JSTOR Plant Science: Thesium
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Thesium
Plants of the World Online: Thesium
Tropicos: Thesium
Wikipedia: Thesium

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2014-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Malawi: Genus page: Thesium.
https://www.malawiflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=504, retrieved 19 March 2024

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